Pharmaceutical Technology Europe - April 2012 - (Page 15)

COLUMN CRUNCH Greece’s devastated Recovering lost margins healthcare system Greg Brandyberry Nathan Jessop The economic crisis in Greece has dominated headlines in Europe for the past few years and devastated the Greek healthcare system. In 2011, the Greek government enforced heavy price cuts for pharmaceuticals and wholesalers now prefer to sell their stocks in other countries where they can make higher profits. The cutbacks have resulted in countrywide shortages of many medicines including painkillers products for hypertension, gastroenterological disorders, kidney disease and cancer. Many drugmakers are adopting a negative view of Greece’s pharmaceutical market. On the one hand, companies have to conform to the low prices demanded by the government, but then they also find their own products in circulation in other European markets. Recently, Greece’s health minister, Andreas Loverdos was quoted as saying that excessive spending on unnecessary drugs amounted to a value of €1 billion per year. Representatives of the Greek pharma industry argue that pharmaceuticals only account for a small proportion of the healthcare expenditure and that little is being done about other aspects of spending, such as diagnostic tests and medical procedures. Although pharmaceutical companies will likely continue their presence in Greece, but will be highly selective in the products they bring to market there. Full column PharmTech.com/Industry0412 The past 15 years has witnessed extreme and mounting cost pressures on the pharmaceutical industry. Although there is sales growth in exciting new global markets, these markets simply cannot command the high-priced drugs of the past. Granted, the potential exists for significantly increased sales volume over time, but the increased sales will be at a lower price and at lower margins. To counter these trends, Big Pharma has aggressively deployed network rationalisation strategies, other restructuring, outsourcing and reorganising, which has resulted in massive layoffs. Reducing infrastructure and operational costs has become the new norm within the industry. Some doomsayers are even predicting the demise of Big Pharma in the decades to come as there will no longer be a financial model that is attractive to investors. Now that may sound a bit farfetched, but one thing is certain: every function and every person is being called upon and challenged to become lean, to cut cost and to do more with less. Transformed procurement organisation is a strong investment. When done properly, the transformation can be accomplished at net cost post initial investment. Some organisations are even lowering the overall cost of procurement through the use of innovative technology and outsourcing strategies and are seeing a sharp rise in procurement’s return on investment. Full column PharmTech.com/Outsourcing0412 2 SPECIAL FEATURE 14 MAGNETIC VECTORING 3 LYOPHILISATION EXPERTS 15 COLUMNS 12 BLOGS 17 DRUG IMPURITIES 14 MAGNETIC VECTORING 18 TOP TECH http://www.PharmTech.com/Outsourcing0412 http://www.PharmTech.com/Industry0412

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pharmaceutical Technology Europe - April 2012

Pharmaceutical Technology Europe - April 2012
Contents
Thoughts and challenges connected to design space and Quality by Design for lyophilisation processes
News Bites
Blogs Abridged
Interview: Achieving localised delivery with magnetic vectoring
Column Crunch: Greek healthcare system, outsourcing, packaging and excipient portfolios
Evaluating drug impurities
Top Tech

Pharmaceutical Technology Europe - April 2012